- (1.) In this group of writ petitions, the petitioners have questioned the veracity of the Government Order dated 15th October 2015 and its competence to demand royalty on minor minerals and cost of minor minerals to the extent of five times the royalty which the contractors supply to the Government Department and public undertakings pursuant to the contract entered between the parties. For facility, the facts of Writ-C No. 11171 of 2016 is being taken into consideration.
(2.) The petitioner is a registered contractor in Category-D with the Public Works Department (PWD). The petitioner was awarded a contract for reconstruction of a road from Shiv Marg to Kali Theeka, Mau. A contract was executed in this regard. For execution of the work, the petitioner purchased ballast/grits, sand, moram, etc. from stone crushers and from other sources.
(3.) The petitioner contends that the State of U.P. was deducting royalty on the raw-material used by the contractors, who failed to produce form MM-11 but, pursuant to the Government Order dated 15th October 2015, in addition to the royalty to be charged for non-production of Form-MM-11, the Government is now realising the cost of material to the extent of five times the royalty. The petitioners, being aggrieved by the charging of royalty and cost of the material upto five times the royalty, have filed the present writ petitions.;